Deceptinuns
Golden Realm The interior of the mountain is hollow, vast caverns lit by a diffuse yellow light. The light seems to emanate from a tiny artificial sun glowing higher in the cave system, and is channelled into each chamber within the mountain by fiber-optic tubes. Orichalcum seems to be the alloy of choice for the Femaxians because their aptly-named Golden Realm is lavishly decorated with it. The Femaxians themselves are apparently a similar species to the brutes outside, as they are roughly the same size, being about twenty-two to twenty-nine feet tall, but they are well-formed where the villagers are gnarled, chiseled instead of corpulent, upright instead of hunched, and obviously possessed of intellect and at least some technological achievements. They dress in finely woven clothing decorated with armor of the same brassy gold alloy, and most of them carry ornate swords or pikes. Interestingly, there do not appear to be any male Femaxians. Obvious exits: Out leads to Primitive Village. Fleet enters the Golden Realm of the Femaxians. Fleet has arrived. Arachnae has arrived. Arachnae slips quietly into the area. Brigand has arrived. Brigand A veiled femme...but which one?? Sunder has arrived. The Decepticons have made it to that mountain that Snaptrap mentioned, but once inside, will they be able to fool the warlike Femaxians and locate the plans for the subspace lockdown unit? Low caste Femaxians with pikes patrol the outskirts of the city inside the hollow mountain. As guards often do, some are distracted, goofing off, or sleeping, but others, a dutiful few, are vigilant. It made be possible to sneak past the less-attentive guards or to fast-talk the more vigilant ones. Arachnae waits as the shuttle lands before she starts finishing her own variation of a disguise. She seems to have some level of expertise in swathing herself with acres of material, a burnoose, padding about her feet, an enveloping cloak complete with hood and all emcompasing veil. Even her wings are wrapped, tucked down and unmoving behenath the billowing material. 'Gloves' cover her hands from fingertips to over her elbows in case an errant breeze blows the sleeve up, no metal will be exposed. Shoulder guards have been paneled down and angled to further add to the giant desert dweller attire. Her visor is slightly opaqued, to prevent errant optic flashes from shining through her hood. "Well, anyone have any ideas as to where to start?" she asks, voice a low alto murmur. Fleet is, it would seem, a lone Seeker in a party of Sweeps. Once upon a time, this wouldn't have been that unusual, but things have changed since he vanished. For example, right now he doesn't actually /look/ like a 'he.' Fleet has gone the easy-cheesy route of using a holo-emitter to appear as a local, and as such "she" wears garb common for the region - fur bikini on well-tanned skin, ahoy! "She" looks over at the others and hmmms softly. "I say we approach directly. If we're caught sneaking around, they're going to assume we have reason to sneak - if we march right in like we belong, we're on firmer ground when the first confrontation comes." Veiled Femme 's gone for the 'respectable tribal woman' approach - he's wearing conservative robes that cover practically every part of his body and conveniently hide his winged body shape, and a veil/backlava type headress that leaves only his optics visible. Which glow brightly in anticipation. "I don't know where to start...but judging by the way this planet is regarded by everyone I've talked to, this planet is full of valuables. It's the number one dream destination spot for terrorists, pirates, and bounty hunters across the galaxy." Brigand doesn't seem to realize that all of the assorted space-scum he's talked to were male. "Er...right, the Lockdown unit. I suppose if we just get out and explore, we should be able to find the trail soon enough." Veiled Femme XO is dressed in a similar fashion to his wingsib Brigand (or is that Brigende?), although the fabric is a different color. He shakes his head and chuckles, managing a very convincing falsetto voice. "I bet you are dressed in that body wrap just for all the conceivable hiding places for stolen goods," he says. Fortunately the balaclava/veil he's wearing completely conceals his beard. Fleet suddenly realizes he's the only one dressed as a 'Jungle' Femaxian. Out-of-town cousins visiting, it is! As if to follow Fleet's suggestion that they should approach directly, one of the more attentive guards notices the pack of strange 'females'. Carrying her pike in a way that is not yet threatening but could shift to a combat stance at any time, she calls out to the group, "Who are you, and what is your business here?" She looks suspicious - the Golden City does not usually receive visitors. Arachnae shakes her head, "Behave ladies." Amused tone, "Or else no more out of convent trips for you. It'll be macrame handbags and Virgin Primus votives." Merry smirk behind her own veil. She nods to Fleet, "Lead on. The sisters and I do so enjoy our infrequent outings, they do get giggly though, don't mind them." Veiled Femme nods earnestly to Arachnae. He steps towards the guard. Pitching his voice much higher than normal, he says. "I don't suppose we could trouble you for some information...sister? As she says, we haven't been here before. Is there anyone who could help guide a group of respectful visitors such as ourselves?" He gestures at the city. "Anywhere we could go for directions, anyone we could talk to for guidance?" Fleet lifts her head proudly as the stranger approaches, scowling at her termerity to approach her at all. Then 'she' falsely forces down false pride and inclines her head so deeply that it might be a bow. "Greetings, sister. We travel from a distant village, having heard from afar the wonders of this Golden Realm. I am assigned escort to this trio of Holy Women," Fleet gestures, "who have long desired to see the mountains." Veiled Femme XO nods solemnly, muttering a few pseudo-latin phrases in the carefully pitched falsetto. The guard looks from the jungle woman to the Holy Women, showing the clear disdain a biased city-dweller might for country-folk. She is only a guard, it is true, but she lives in the Golden Realm, the finest city on all of Femax! Still, it is ill luck to be to rude to the Holy Women, so she moves aside, allowing access to a gate into the Golden Realm. She murmurs, grudgingly, "May your spears never dull, sisters." Arachnae folds hands into sleeves, stepping to the side of 'Fleet' before giving a slight nod of her head. "Greetings." A glance at the other two 'nuns' then back to the guard woman. "May your fields ever prosper in the light." "May your shields hold firm, sister," Fleet replies, smiling. 'She' walks past the guard woman, glancing back to make sure the 'holy women' she is pretending to escort follow. Hurdle one, passed. "No doubt that was the easy part," she murmurs softly to the others. Veiled Femme mutters back, "You call that easy? My wings are killing me!" Two abnormal lumps appear on his back under the robes, move around slightly and then disappear again, the robes smoothing out as if nothing happened. "Anyway, I think we ought to make our way to the center of the cavern. That's where the most valuable goods ought to be. Er, and the Lockdown device too. Of course." Veiled Femme XO nods wordlessly at Brigende. S/he keeps the telltale taloned hands covered, so that none suspect the truth, while his/her own pair of wings are pulled in as tightly as possible so that the garment wraps do not betray the true shape. "Indeed," comes the falsetto murmur towards Brigende. Arachnae raises brows, but, oddly, is quite comfortable in her getup. "One down, many to go. Life is but a series of steps taken to an end path." Quieter, "Little sister if you can't keep your hands to yourself, they may be removed." The guard apparently doesn't notice some of the more questionable comments made by the visitors. Once inside the gates, there are many massive caves leading to a central cavern wherein an artificial sun paints everything golden. The architecture and technology level are quite advanced, though it seems that battle and prowess and combat are strong themes here. One would be hard-pressed to tell a theoretical science laboratory from an armory. It's Arachnaes Dreamland! This would be why Fleet *cheats.* It's much more comfortable to just run around naked and throw on a hologram to cover your shame. 'She' inclines her head towards Brigande. "The most valuable items... and the most guards." She considers. "Perhaps also the things a 'tourist' might be most interested in seeing?" Despite her doubts, she walks confidently, as though she belongs here, heading as directly center-ward as she can. Arachnae settles hands inside of sleeves, walking swiftly with the she-Fleet, cloak billowing about her ala Snape. "We would be delighted to see what wonders the city holds for our people." Amused tone. Veiled Femme XO follows Fleet, all the while scanning feverishly for the device they are searching for--the subspace lockdown unit. So far his scanners are picking up traces of various devices, so he narrows the band detection so he can home in on what they're after. "If you see anything like a library," she-Fleet says softly to the others, "Let me know. That may be our best bet, at least as a starting point." She looks around. "Would these people keep a library? Maybe to chronicle their battle exploits..." The Femaxians do indeed chronicle their battle exploits. They have skalds, a position something like a bard, to write verse about the greatest of heroines and the bloodiest of battles. A skald can make or break the reputation of a warrior with her poetry and song, should she choose, so the skalds are treated very carefully by the warriors. There is a hall where there are flutes (with bayonet attachments) crossed over the door like crossed swords, and the sounds of song drift out from the building. Arachnae considers, "A library or some place to showcase their triumphs yes. It's standard for a warrior culture to have something akin to that, yes." She continues to walk along/ Veiled Femme tilts his head slightly to one side as he walks. "I don't know about a library...but I hear music." He glances at Sunder for confirmation. "If you want to call it that. But singing, also. Sounds like battle exploits. Bloody heroines, saving their people, that sort of thing." He nods in he direction of the hall. Fleet inclines her head in a nod. "Well, when looking for knowledge, I imagine there are worse places to start than a storehouse of it." She turns and strides confidently in the direction of the building. "Be thinking of subtle ways to ask around for that stuff..." Veiled Femme nods at Fleet, and says in his most reassuring voice (ie not very), "Just leave it to me..." Veiled Femme XO idly wonders if Brigende brought the Fake-ID/Library Cards. Arachnae hmmms, veil rustling, "Well, there's asking and there's wandering around until we randomly run into it." Fleet is just incredibly re-assured right now. Veiled Femme steps into the hall and looks around, fully expecting to see things normally only found in the dreams of those Monacaus pirates he was talking to earlier. Fleet pushes the door with the crossed flutes opened, letting the music pour out. "Well, 'sisters,' we've arrived." With that, she follows Brigande in, peering curiously around her. Arachnae glides in behind Fleet, taking a look around. Veiled Femme XO 's sensitive audios pick out the finer notes in the music, but all together it sounds rather...much. The pseudo-femaxian Sweep keeps scanners peeled. The plans to the lockdown device had to be around here *somewhere* Well. There are lots of scantily-clad warrior women strolling around the city. Monacusian pirates might be interested in *those*. There is also a great deal of gilt used in the city, but it may be hard to make off with a whole building. Inside the music hall, there are various musicians who are either practising or tending to various odd looking instruments, such as a stringed harp with a fanciful shape or a double flute. All of the musical instruments look as if they could double as weapons. Off to one wall, there seems to be some sort of record storage, where songs are kept. Fleet twitches a currently-invisible wing as she looks around, although she stifles a sigh. How could a species that makes so little use of electronic storage manage, at the same time, to be so advanced? It defies reason. Still, she murmurs to the others, "I'll see if I can't figure anything out in the records," and then glides in that direction. Arachnae isn't interested in scantily clad women, or in making off with gilt buildings. However, the music garners a thoughtful look, a slight tilt of her head and she listens a bit. "Do that. I think I'll listen to the music to see if they are legend singers or no." Veiled Femme nods slightly in approval as Fleet goes over to record storage. Well, outwardly approving. Inwardly, he's glad someone else is around to do the tedious work. Brigand himself walks over to a musician who just finished a song. At least he thinks (hopes) it's over. "Oh excuse me...sister. Can you help me?" He tries to keep up that artificially high-pitched voice from before. "I'd love to hear music, but we've heard all the classics so many times. Since were all the way here in the Golden Realm maybe we can hear something more recent? Anything really exotic, and more recent?" The musician suggests at first, "Oh, you must want to hearest the newest in battle hymns, sister! There is a fine one about the Sacred Sword of Sheera." Then, she pauses and muses, "After all, you certainly could not want to hear about A'gath the Mad, who insists on working with machines," she sniffs disdainfully. "A'gath and her foolish science." Oh, no, certainly wouldn't want to be caught working with machines. Fleet tilts 'her' head and glances back at the Sweeps, but begins to look through the records, anyway. Of course, how would she be able to tell what it is if she finds it? Eh. Fleet's really just hoping to get lucky. Arachnae settles down to simply listen to the music, hoping to catch a snatch of something useful. Veiled Femme XO swears that one of the composers of the battle hymns /must/ have been Haim Saban. It sounds a bit like an old theme for a TV show that he'd seen after one of the Predacons had left the TV on. He grins through his veil at Brigende. Is that crafty Sweep trying to get close enough to pick the Musician's pocket? The musician is not quite wearing enough clothing to have pockets. Fleet, looking through the recorded songs, may find some songs mocking those Femaxians foolish enough to take up science, rather than warfare. Only the Femaxians who work on the sciences of stabbing and shooting seem to get any kind of respect, and in particular, there is a great deal of mockery aimed at a recent Remaxian scientist who has worked on investigating subspace. Brigand has disconnected. Fleet frowns, starting to suspect that 'she's' not going to find what she's after here. Instead, she approaches the area where Brigande talks to a laaaaaaaydee. "Hmmm. A'gath? She sounds like a most contempeous sort." Fleet snorts. "I had heard that fools of that sort could sometimes be found in the Golden Realm, but I wasn't certain I believed it." Veiled Femme XO likewise doesn't find anything pertinent in this room. S/he moves over to Fleet. "Is there anywhere else it might be?" s/he whispers, still maintaining falsetto. The musician rolls her eyes and works on turning her battle harp. She agrees readily. "Oh, that A'gath messing around with this subspace nonsense. If you can't make a gun or sword out of it, why bother?" Plunk plunk plunk. Fleet raises a finger towards Sundere. This 'A'gath' is the one they need to see... or at least the one whose home they need to raid. But how to make the musician tell them where she is. Fleet shakes her head. "Still, I have trouble believing one should even be allowed to exist in a place such as this. Tell me... could you satisfy my curiosity? Where might A'gath be found? I simply... find the concept so incredible that I must see for myself." She shakes her head. "It just doesn't seem to make any sense." Veiled Femme XO nods silently, letting Fleet do all the talking. After all, who's more likely to wheedle the location out of the person? S/he looks around the room again, feigning interest in the various objects in the place. The musician replies dismissively, "Oh, she does build death rays now and then, so the First One allows her to live. For now. You may find her laboratory in the darkest corner of the Golden Realm, where it does not blemish the rest of the city." 'The darkest corner.' Lovely. Fleet leans forward and nods. "Ah, thank you, for enlightening me. But now, I believe I and my wards," heh heh, "must be going. May your spear never dull, sister." And with that, Fleet turns and starts to head out. Veiled Femme XO heads out too, following Fleet closely. Hopefully Brigande hasn't wandered off to do some pilfering... The musician says brightly and cheerily, "May you stand on the bodies of the slain!" Once they are out of the building, Fleet leans in towards Sundere. "Okay, we need to find the 'darkest corner' of this area." He looks around, frowning. "So... where would that be?" There's a cave off to one side that doesn't get as much light as the others, and it looks like... lightning is flashing inside? Veiled Femme XO peers at the cave. Perhaps that is where they need to look? Fleet sees where Sundere is peering (or where she assumes that Sundere is peering, under all those robes). "Ah. Maybe there." With that, he starts navigating his way towards it. Uhm. She and her. Something like that. The darker cave is dark! Mad cackling emits from it. Fleet hmphs softly. "Sounds like an organic Arachnae," 'she' murmurs, approaching the cave. She approaches the edge as quietly as she can, and tries to peek in. Veiled Femme XO scans the cave. Also peeks in, to see what there is in there. And if whoever's in there has any weapons on them. Inside the cave, there is a rather foreboding-looking small castle. Somehow, despite there not being any clouds inside a cave, lightning lances out around it. Outside stands a scantily-clad, rather buff warrior woman who has a pair of goggles on her head and gear designs on her armour. She stands next to a strange machine of some sort and a robotic cat. Talking to her insipidly cute robotic pet, she proclaims, "At last! Those Seacons thought they could steal my subspace lockdown unit, but I have rebuilt it, better than before!" Fleet looks at Sundere, then looks inside the cave, then looks at Sundere. "Guess that's our cue," she murmurs, then crouches and attempts to creep towards the gave, towards the machine. She fully expects an alarm to go off at any moment - when it does, she drops her disguise and flies. Veiled Femme XO uses all the skills of a sneaky Sweep to get close to the machine. If any alarm does indeed go off, he too will discard his wraps and flee--hopefully with the machine in his or Fleet's grasp. Of course an alarm goes off! This is mad science, though, so the alarm consists of a ball bearing rolling down a series of complicated tubes into a pot of coffee, which emits a loud whistle. The mad Femaxian scientist A'gath whirls around, trying to locate the source of the intrusion, but her subspace lockdown device doesn't seem to be strapped down in any way. It's right there for the taking. When the alarm goes off, Fleet leaps into the air, dropping his hologram and flying straight for the subspace thing-gummy. Veiled Femme XO sheds his disguise instantly, grabbing for the subspace lockdown device as well. He's not going to wrestle Fleet for possession, but he's going to make sure they grab it before they have to go. "I'm sorry, but we absolutely /have/ to borrow this," he says to the occupant of the cave, grinning sweetly with bared fangs. Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode. A'gath screeches, "No! I won't let you take my subspace lockdown unit... again!" She withdraws one of her dreaded death rays as the Decepticons snatch away her device. Her aim is rather poor, but it does rouse the neighbouring Femaxians, who angrily draw weapons. Perhaps the Decepticons should flee? Fleet manages to just reach the thing-gummy first, having been the first to creep into the cave. Still, he tosses it to Sunder - Sunder's better able to make it back on his own, after all. "Time to depart from the golden for the open skies, I think," he says, twisting to avoid a rather lucky shot from a death ray. "Let's scramble." And with that, he rockets back down the cave, staying in robot mode for the moment because it is smaller, making it easier to dodge obstacles. The sooner Sunder's outta here, the better! He catches the device and smoothly transforms around it, stowing it in his cargo hold. "Yes, let us depart with all haste. The planet is thick with pheromones I'd rather not detect," he replies. Sunder's head disappears into his chest, his wings fold around him, and now he is in Sweepcraft mode, his headcannon still visible. What, the pheromones of 'Rargh, going to kill you in the face'? An angry horde of warrior women chases after the Decepticons, using a mixture of spears, slings, bows, crossbows, and blasters. Fleet jigs and jinks back and forth as they're under attack, but he can't avoid everything, and takes several dentings to his armor. Still, it's not long before he can transform, being back in the mountain proper, and soon after, he bursts out of the entrance, flying a beeline towards the shuttle. Sweepcraft just gets the frag outta there. Some slings and arrows bounce off his hull. Nothing really hits him that would do any damage. He hits his FTL drives as soon as he's able. And so, the wicked Decepticons escape with the subspace lockdown unit! But to what evil end will they use it? Decepticon Message: 2/44 Posted Author Femax Invasion! Tue Nov 18 Fleet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spinny. Fleet. "At the request of Commander Catechism, Arachnae, Brigand, Sunder, and I infiltrated the 'Golden Realm' of the planet Femax to see if we couldn't discover the plans for the subspace lockdown technology that the Seacons reported stealing from that planet. In fact, we found something better: the scientist who had built the original has apparently constructed a newer unit to replace it. By now, Sunder should have already dropped it off at our labs, where it awaits examination by our scientists. Fleet, out."